This invention relates to bulk loaders for paintball guns.
Games played with paintballs have enjoyed great success in recent years and this has resulted in the development of a number of types and models of paintball guns that employ pressurized gas to shoot paintballs. These paintballs are spherical capsules which have an outer layer made from gelatin and this outer layer encloses a colored liquid which generally has an oil base. When a game player is hit with one of these paintballs by an adversary""s gun, the paintball ruptures easily and leaves a visible color mark on the player.
It is well known to equip paintball guns with a bulk loader capable of holding a relatively large number of small paintballs. These bulk loaders can be mounted to one side of and above a semi-automatic paintball gun that is capable of shooting individual paintballs as fast as the trigger can be repeatedly pulled.
A variety of bulk loaders are known in the paintball gun industry. Typically, these loaders include a container or housing that is mounted to one side of the gun so that the gun can still be aimed properly by the user. The housing is also located above the gun so that paintballs can drop through a bottom outlet of the housing and will be fed by gravity to the loading mechanism of the gun. A feed tube is connected to the housing at the bottom outlet and this tube is connectible to the gun""s own ball feeding section which can take the form of a hollow bent paintball tube that extends outwardly from the body of the gun.
One commonly encountered problem with known bulk loaders is that the paintballs can jam as they enter the feed tube during operation of the gun. A jam will, of course, prevent further paintballs from entering the feed tube causing the gun not to operate after several shots. It is a common practice to clear such jams by simply shaking the gun in order to dislodge the paintballs at the entrance to the feed tube. Shaking of the gun in this manner is obviously undesirable since it interferes with the operation of the gun, including the proper aiming of the gun.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,454 issued Feb. 1, 1994 to C.M. Support, Inc. describes a bulk loader for a paintball gun with an anti-jamming device. This known bulk loader employs an optical sensor to detect the absence of paintballs in the feed tube of the bulk loader and a rotatable agitator paddle member is mounted in the housing that stores the paintballs and can be operated to clear a paintball feed jam by shifting paintballs located around the bottom outlet of the housing. There is an electric motor operated by a small battery that is able to rotate the paddle member when the absence of a paintball in the feed tube is sensed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved bulk loader apparatus for supplying paintballs to a paintball gun, this apparatus being equipped with a paintball moving member movably mounted at the bottom inlet and a mechanism for controlling the operation of this moving member.
According to one aspect of the invention, a bulk loader apparatus for supplying paintballs to a paintball gun comprises a housing for internally storing a quantity of paintballs, this housing having a bottom outlet through which stored paintballs can drop, and a feed tube mechanism connected to the housing at the bottom outlet and extending downwardly therefrom. The feed tube mechanism is connectible to the gun and capable of sequentially delivering the paintballs to the gun. There is also an auger-like member rotatably mounted at the bottom outlet and operable to move one or more paintballs located at or near the bottom outlet. A control mechanism operates auger-like member and includes a microswitch mounted in the feed tube mechanism for sensing the absence of a paintball within the feed tube mechanism at the location of the microswitch. The control mechanism operates and rotates the auger like member to cause one or more paintballs to drop into the feed tube when the position of the microswitch indicates an absence of a paintball.
According to a further aspect of the invention, a bulk loader apparatus for supplying paintballs sequentially to a paintball gun includes a housing for internally storing a quantity of paintballs, this housing having a bottom outlet through which stored paintballs can drop, and a feed tube connected to the housing at the bottom outlet and extending downwardly therefrom. This feed tube is connectible to the gun and capable of sequentially delivering the paintballs to the gun. There is also provided an auger-like member rotatably mounted adjacent the bottom outlet and in the housing. Rotation of this auger-like member during use of the apparatus acts to move one or more paintballs in the region of the bottom outlet. A mechanism for operating and rotating the auger-like member in order to move the one or more paintballs includes a motor operatively connected to the auger-like member in order to rotate same and an electrical switch mounted in the feed tube in order to sense the absence of a paintball within the feed tube at the location of the switch. The switch is capable of turning the motor on in order to move the one or more paintballs towards or at the bottom outlet when the operational state of the switch indicates an absence of a paintball.
According to another aspect of the invention, a bulk loader apparatus for supplying paintballs sequentially to a paintball gun includes a housing for internally storing a quantity of paintballs and a feed tube connected to the housing at its bottom outlet. A paintball dislodging ring is movably mounted at the bottom outlet of the housing and extends around this outlet. Movement of the dislodging ring acts to clear a paintball feed jam by moving one or more paintballs located at or near the bottom outlet. There is also a mechanism for operating and moving the dislodging ring in order to clear the paintball jam and this mechanism includes an electrical motor operatively connected to the dislodging ring in order to clear the paintball jam and an electrical switch mounted in the feed tube for sensing the absence of a paintball within the feed tube at the location of the switch. The electrical switch is able to turn the motor on in order to clear the paintball jam when the operational state of the switch indicates an absence of a paintball.
In this embodiment, the dislodging ring is preferably pivoted about a pivot axis in order to move the jammed paintballs located at the bottom outlet.